Almost Awake
by adribanana
Summary: I guess having a abnormal, non-reacting, calm mind isn't so bad after all. At least I haven't gotten eaten yet...
1. Almost Awake

**~Hey everyone! Don't worry, I won't take up too much of your time:) I just want to let you know that this is my 1st story that I submitted to Fanfiction so I'm really nervous and excited about how this works! I like writing stories based on my dreams, so tell me if something doesn't make sense. Thanx ;) **

No matter where I look my eyes can't seem to focus.

I have been slowly blinking for… I don't know how long.

Everywhere I look is blurry as if there was a thick, fuzzy fog plastered over my retinas.

There is dirt mixed with mud all over this grimy floor, which my face is currently pressed against.

I still can't move any part of my body, just thinking about moving makes my throbbing headache punish me in advance.

I might be hungry, that is if I could only feel my stomach. Where am I and how long have I been here?

I can feel my heartbeat slow down and my eyelids start to close again.

This has happened over and over again; me going in and out of consciousness.

For all I know, I could have even repeated the same things in my head every time I woke up.

Each and every time is the same throbbing and dizzy feeling.

Whenever I regain consciousness I get this mystified and scatterbrained sensation and the gut feeling that it isn't safe here.

Where am I…?

…

…

…

Days, or weeks, later I am finally able to lift my head from the repulsive ground.

It smells like a mixture of crumbly dirt, acidic dust and dry blood.

I look around dizzily moving only my eyes because my neck hurts so much.

I am finding it hard to even control my eye muscles. If I try to look to the right or left they either go too far or stop too short and mostly they just keep spinning and swimming in dizzing directions.

It is still very dark. The millions of miniature stars belong to my eyes so I guess they are still getting used to the darkness and my ears are muted so I can't hear very well.

But there is a faint sound…

It's like a thumping or clattering, I can't tell. But by now it went away anyway…

Dink, bong, dink, bong, dink, bong, dink, bong…

I try my best to clear my throat, but pain rakes up and down my esophagus. I ignore it, "who are you?" I ask weekly in the direction of the shadow slumped against the wall.

"I'd be willing to bet that you have been asleep even longer than I was in the beginning," the shadow replied with a small, feminine voice that echoed softly back to me.

"Huh?" I said then an onslaught of agonizing coughs tore through me for a few minutes which left me out of breath. The girl waited patiently while my gasps for air slowly diminished. She opened her mouth to speak but then closed it again looking thoughtfully at me as my breathing got shallower. Then she watched my head collapse back to the floor.

I didn't wake up until sometime later.

When I did, I could hear a sound.

It wasn't the same sound as before; it was different, somehow lighter, as if very far away. It was like a murky dripping.

I sat up slowly as my headache throbbed loudly and I struggled to lift my eyelids.

When I pushed my weak body into an upright position and used the wall to support my back, a heavy rattling sound followed my arm movements and I suddenly became aware of the intensely cold and heavy wristbands that limited me from moving any further.

I'm a prisoner.

**Keep reading it gets better... or worse! well better for you not so good for Jasmine. Review!**


	2. The Prisoners

Chapter 2~the prisoner(s)

I'm a prisoner. I'm a prisoner. I'm a prisoner. I repeated this again and again in my head, and yet, it wasn't registering. It didn't make sense. I have heard about these kinds of things happening on the news, to distant relatives, even to close friends but I never thought that it could happen to me. It wasn't real. I could never imagine anything like this happening, so in a way, it never did. The stories went in one ear and out the other as if I lived in another world with my head in the clouds. Even now as I lay here, wherever I am, I feel like I am dreaming. I cannot even consider this a nightmare because I can't feel the same type of fear…

I struggled to open my eyes. I don't know what time it is or even whether the sun is up or the moon is shining through darkness. But my eyes have gotten a little better at seeing through the shadows of this building-like place. There are four grime-covered walls surrounding me with no windows and only one door very far to the left of where I am.

This place reminds me of a basement but much bigger and with a higher roof. There are even a few bats hanging from leaking pipes in the ceiling, gross. Bats have always freaked me out, just the idea of them -rats with wings- flying around in the dark screaming their heads off.

I locked eyes with one of them and almost puked! It is all fuzzy around the neck with big, bulging red eyes and skinny talons hooked around one of the pipes. Its bid black wings were folded in on itself almost like a blanket. It just stared back at me and I could swear it looked smug; this is not a good sign. I shouldn't be personifying weird animals. _The next thing you know I'll be talking to myself,_ I thought as I looked away from the ceiling.

I hadn't forgotten what that girl had been saying before I blacked out so now I was searching the darkness for a familiar silhouette.

"Hello?" I said realizing my voice has almost gotten back to normal.

Someone very far away next to the opposite wall of mine sat up carefully and I heard the chains rattle with the movement.

"What's up?" She said pained, trying to sound composed, but I noticed a crack in her voice and a weakness in the sound. I also noticed that this is not the same girl who spoke to me before.

"Where am I?" I asked as a million of other questions swirled in my mind. _Better ask one question at a time_, I thought still watching her.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" She half-smiled, "We'd all like to know the same." She gestured around the room.

The first time I noticed the many piles of blackness across the floor, I overlooked them as clothing piles or dirt mounds, but now that I concentrate on them, I can see the slow rises and falls of breathing.

For a second, I was afraid thinking they might be rabid dogs or something worse, but the way the girl said, 'we'd all like to know,' implied that they were people.

"Who are they?" I asked.

"They're just like you and me. They're prisoners, kidnapped my these blood-sucking monsters that are holding us captive." She said this with so much hatred and revulsion that made me shiver.

"B-Blood sucking monsters?" I stuttered.

She simply nodded.

"What do you mean blood-sucking, like vampires?" I said partly skeptical, partly worried.

At first she seemed too exhausted to answer me, but she was able to say, "Obviously," before she collapsed back to the ground.

"Hello? Girl, what's your name? Where are we why are we here?" I asked terrified but I got no answer, just silence again and more high-pitched screaming from the disgusting bats on the ceiling.

**I know this is a short chapter. Sorry. Just ****REVIEW PLEASE**** and tell me what you thought about it! k? **

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	3. Frustration

Chapter 3~Frustration

I am getting more and more frustrated with my mind!

It's like I'm retarded or something! I'm obviously in danger but my heart is still calm and my breathing is normal and my muscles are relaxed! _What's wrong with me! _I mentally screamed. I sighed heavily. And continued trying to break the chains that were bolted to the dusty floor causing alot of noise.

From far away, I could hear someone laughing. It was faint, but I knew I heard it.

I stopped, frozen in mid-swing.

Silence.

I mean, I hope I heard it otherwise my mind is playing tricks on me.

"Who's there?" I said steadily and listened as my voice echoed off the walls.

More silence.

I was beginning to believe that I had been imagining it. Obviously, no one else had heard it otherwise they'd be talking into the distant shadows too.

I tried to make my voice louder by clearing my throat, but that just sent daggers tearing up and down my esophagus because my throat was so dry. I swallowed at the little bit of moisture in my mouth but it wasn't enough. It was a struggle as I tried to scrape every drop of spit from the corners of my mouth and force it to the back of my throat using my dry, bumpy tongue. Again, I tried to clear my throat. It hurt.

"Hello? Anyone?" My already present worry began to escalade by the fact that not even the other prisoners answered me. It was just more silence and murky dripping._ What's wrong with them? Are they okay? What's gonna happen to us? Wait, maybe its just me. By myself! THAT'S EVEN WORSE!_

"HEY!" I yelled hysterically, "Hey! Some-someone.. Someone answer me right now! P-p-plea-please!" I was about to lose it. First I'm trapped in here with a bunch of bats, then I start seein' things lurking in the shadows, now I think I'm by myself in here! ALONE!

I've never been alone! Never! I have a big sister who I'm with constantly (we shape the same bedroom), a mom who cooks for us all the time, friends who hang out with me non-stop, a best friend who… never mind it's not time to think about that right now. The point is I am not mentally ready for this! I can't be! How could I be?

_Calm down! It's okay, calm down. _A little voice in the back of my head told me. I listened to it this time because I really did need to get a grip. I wasn't completely certain yet that this isn't a dream. It could be.

With that my muscles slowly unclenched and relaxed. Now I realized how exhausted I was from all of the mental stress. Wait, should you be able to feel stress and exhaustion from a dream?

I don't care anymore. I'm too tired…

A few minutes later, as I was drifting in and out of sleep, I saw something move. I sat up slowly staring into the darkness down the wide hallway. It moved again.

"Uhh, Hello?" I asked hesitating.

A low chuckle was all that was given to me as a response.

I kept inspecting the wall opposite of mine; it's hard because all I can see is pitch-black darkness and swirling fog. Then, covered over in grey fog, almost completely indistinguishable were two glowing red specks of light. They were close enough together and the right proportion to be eyes, but regular eyes don't reflect red. Right?

My eyebrows rose slowly as I made them out, but that's it. I couldn't move, I didn't scream. I just stared back at the menacing eyes that were slowly advancing towards me. I should be having an adrenaline rush... or something! Anything!

I need to get out of here or I might die, but my body is acting like this is any other day, a normal day. It's like I'm not even in the real world, I'm having an out-of-body experience or something. That would be fine if I wasn't about to get killed any second!

_I'm going to die! This may be the last thought I will ever think! They are going to suck every drop of blood out of me until I'm EMPTY! ..._Nothing.

Ughhhh! It's like my body doesn't even believe me! My heart remains beating with the same unhurried, slow beats-Thump, thump. Thump, thump. Thump, thump- and even my thoughts are all sluggish! Sometimes I truly hate my mind!

At times like these being an airhead doesn't come in handy. Well, I'm not a complete airhead; I read tons of books, write poems, and even write stories and essays for fun, I'm a book worm, I just would rather be in the books and SpongeBob cartoons than in the real-world. I brain-wash myself with kid-shows all day and imagine myself in the stories I read in order to forget my problems, I admit it. People call me childish and strange, but that's just me.

Right now though, I wish I would have listened to them. It's so hard to get out of this frame of mind; naivety. So hard to try to make your feet touch the terrorizing and pollutingly, foul ground back on Earth.

The eyes were scrutinizing me, studying me. They were so quiet.

_But it has to be done_, I think with determination, _I have to fix my brain, mold it to a regular one that can identify and react to impending danger. I have to do it._

I have never really liked being 'the damsel in distress,' I've never even liked watching that character in cartoons or movies. She's always so helpless and pathetic until her 'knight in shining armor' comes to save the day. And I don't have one of those, at least not anymore *Change the subject, Jasmine.* I shook my head clear of the rambling thought and focused on the much, much worse situation at hand.

Out of the shadows and gloom came the little boy. He couldn't be more than six-years-old. His eyes were still bloody red, but that was just about the only shocking or upsetting thing about him. He was wearing a little blue and white sailor's outfit complete with hat and shoes it would be absolutely adorable on him if he didn't had blood all over the front of it. He had dark brown, shining curls jumbled atop his head and tumbling out of his sailor's hat. His arms, legs, and face was chalky white from what I could see except for his rosy cheeks. His thin, pink lips were spread thin because of the wide smile that was stretched from ear to ear revealing his fangs. And dripping off his chin was alot of blood from a recent meal, I would guess.

"Hello" he said pleasantly. I had to force my eyes from his chin and back up to his eyes. "You're new! Yay! I am going to have so much fun with my new pet! What's your name dearie?"

"Jasmine Lockett," I said evenly.

"MMMMmmm!" He giggled jumping up and down and clapping his hands. "I'm so excited! You're gonna be my new best friend..." he stopped abruptly, "Right?"

"Sure," I smiled the best I could. "Waddo you wanna play first?"

He started skipping towards me and said happily, "Its called, 'Drain Her Dry'."

Almost in agreement, the bats that are hanging creepily from the high ceiling overhead started screeching uncontrollably. There are, I'd say more than sixteen from what I can tell and they're all flapping their wings and rolling their heads sickeningly as they let ear-piercing screams escape their fanged mouths. I started to get scared as the volume heightened and covered my ears in an attempt to block the piercing noise.

The people littered across the floor of this prison-dungeon slowly started to wake up and fearfully watch the show.

**Hi readers! dont forget to tell me if you like the story! REVIEW! its only a button... dont be afraid. I'LL PROTECT YOU, ONLY IF YOU REVIEW! to all those non-reviews (u know who u are!) are meanies! MEANIES NEVER PROSPER! just review k? ****when i have 1 more review all add a chapter! ****All Promises~**


	4. The little sailor

Oh, nonononono no. no. no no." I said with a nervous chuckle. "we cant play that game."- His eyes grew red with anger. He probly would have thrown a tantrum with would have left me for dead! After all, im daeling with a baby vampire! So I decided to end that sentence with, "_Yet_"

He stoped pouting and eyed my coyly, "why not?"

"Because…. Because I have a much funner game that u haven't played yet and if you win 'drain Her Dry' then you'll never know how to play!" I said off the top of my head, I never knew I was so clever!

"OOOhhh…" he said excited as he clapped his hands together playfully, "Tell me, tell me!"

"Ok, there are a lot of rules to this game so pay close attention k?" I said to buy time.

"Ok." He leaned forward in anticipation.

"Alright rule number one and most important rule of this game is there's no time out's the game keeps going until… until… the first person to see sunlight wins!"

"Huh?" he said, "But what's the fun in that? All that happens is our eyes change yellow from the sun."

"Oh." darn, I thought they'd burst into flames because of all the books I've read. I'd better learn as much about this 'real world facts' as I can. "I know, There's a huge surprise afterwards for the winner though, you'll see…. If you win" I said just to get him all riled up and excited again.

"hey do you guys wanna play too?" I asked the prisoners around me, I could tell they were watching the whole thing, interested. And I didn't know how long I could think on my toes like this. One slip-up and the game's over. "Come on, it'll be funner with more people!" I said with a desperate smile that they could see. Four girls got up the nerve to volunteer and introduce themsvels.

"hi. I'm Tori" said a girl alittle further away. I couldn't quite see her but I hear her cautious voice and that gave me another idea. I held onto it until they all finished their introductions.

"I'm Resina" said another.

"Iris" said a voice I recognized from earlier, she pulled herself into a sitting position with some effort.

"And I'm Dawn."said the last girl who was the furthest away by far.

"Awesome!" I yelled with a genuine smile, " Now for the first part of the game we a have to sit in a circle facing eachother." All of us looked at each other confused even the little boy. Then we all looked at him with sad faces. "its up to you. We cant play the funnest part of game if we're tied up. I guess none of us get to get the collest surprise ever."

"WAIT!" the boy yelled then jumped to his feet. "I know where the key is! I can unlock you and we can play the game in a circle!" I was surprised he fell for it already!

"Hurry so we can start! We can't wait to play with you!"

"Okay! "He said them ran all the way to the othe side to the humongus holding room, unlocked the door with a little key which he replaced in his right sock and disappeared into the light of the other room.

"You're a genius!" Tori and Iris said simulatnoesly.

"Shhhh! U Cant let thebats her you or everything's ruined!" I said

They started laughting, even the ones who were silent before were giggling now. I just looked at them with a confused mixed with concerned look on my face.

Resina was the one to speak up first. "Bats are just related to two of them are like cousins. They can't understand human speech! The only thing we need to worry about is if the vampires ask them to attack us… again." She grew somber at the last part and I decided to ask about that later.

"I can't believe this is happening," Tori squeeled. "as soon as he unlockes us we can escape and be free!"

With that everybody started breathing a sigh of relief and envisioning their escape.

"NO!" I shouted kindof so loudly my throat started hurting again, we cant escape today. We have to play along with this game." They interrupted me with 'why's and pouts and a few shed some tears. "because," I continued, "we need to gain his trust. And we need to get as much information out of him as possible because we don't know all the facts about vampires and we don't know how many are out there." That quieted their complaints. "and lastly we need to figueout their weakness am I right?"

"Yea!" that lifted up a few spirits we need to be in a good, happy mood for when he gets back.

"Everyone, go back to imagining our escape. Its not gonna be far away I promise but this time It'll be fool-proof!" now everyone had a huge smile on their faces as they laid back down.

I relaxed alittle against the stonewall. I guess having a abnormal, non-reacting, calm mind isn't so bad after all. At least I haven't gotten eaten yet...

**Hi everyone! :)**  
**So what did you think? any good? should i continue? please review :) even if its something negative, something is better than nothing.**  
**Thanks heaps.**


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